Ars Father’s Day Gift Guide: Dead-tree-loving Dad Edition

For the geek dad who loves books, magazines, Maoist propaganda posters, and …

Despite the appearance of the Kindle and the proclamations of paper's doom that ring out daily from geeky futurists, paper isn't going anywhere soon—especially not when it comes in the forum of gorgeous, hand-pressed bits of art for decorating the wall. Welcome to the Ars Gift Guide for Dead Tree Dads. Looking for the perfect present, or hoping to get the perfect present on Father's Day this time around? Look no further than this list of a few of our own favorite (paper-based) things.

Books

A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson 624 pages $11.02 (buy)

There are no end of good books science, but what if your dad slept through high school chemistry and nearly flunked biology? Just consider A Short History of Nearly Everything one of the best remedial classes, ever. Nobel Intent editor John Timmer says, "Bryson not only brings out nearly all of the big scientific ideas we've developed, but he describes how they developed, and keeps you awake while doing it. He provides a window into the history of scientific fields, describing how slowly some ideas—even those we now view as ludicrous—died off, and the staggeringly venomous attacks that sometimes greeted those who came up with new ones."

Bryson's gift with language especially pays off when he launches into a discussion of some of the outlandish personalities that drove much of this unfortunate behavior. In the end, science comes across as a series of sometimes hilarious personal tragedies that, because the natural world keeps correcting us, have produced a collective triumph.

Clint Ecker is a huge fan of the sort of book that explains the complex and varied history of everyday items. The man has waded through tomes on the history of salt, bananas, cities, and even cod, but he says that the history of the humble bean is actually the most riveting.

"Beans is perhaps one of the most unexpected books in this vein that I've run across," he says. "Beans are a crucial part of nearly every culture on Earth and have, at times, played important parts in shaping some of the biggest empires."

Don't be fooled by the seemingly pedestrian nature of this book; after all, beans are the magical fruit.

Forget following recipes: when you know the right ratios, you can make practically anything from scratch if you just learn to geek it up a bit. Pasta, bread, cakes, pizza dough—it all becomes incredibly easy when you know the basic combinations of flour, fat, and water that make up each item.

If you're a fan of Alton Brown and his Food Network show, Good Eats (and let's be honest here—geeks love Alton), Ratio will definitely appeal to you, as it teaches its techniques with clear explanations about the chemical reactions involved. Infinite Loop editor Jacqui Cheng swears by it: "Making your own pasta from scratch with nary a glance at a cookbook really impresses friends and significant others, and it's way better than the store-bought stuff."

Matthew Stover mixes up fantasy and science fiction—not to mention first- and third-person writing—in a way that makes sense and serves the story. And what a story it is: you'll find political intrigue, a dystopian future, and sword-and-sorcery, all in one terrific stew of a book. Mix in some gut-churning violence and you have a winner—a violent book that meditates on the power of violence.

Opposable Thumbs editor Ben Kuchera swears by it. "This is a book that's hard to sell people on with descriptions, so I ask you to just pick it up and give it 50 pages of your time," he says. "You won't put it back down. Don't let the pulp cover fool you—this is one of the better yarns I've read in years."

In his recent works Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle, Neal Stephenson has shown a keen interest in historical fiction. With his latest work Anathem, Stephenson dives deeply into the sci-fi genre. Set in what could best be described as a secular monastery devoted to the study of philosophy and mathematics on another planet, Anathem trods territory familiar to Stephenson fans. The rhythmic cycles of life inside the concent are interrupted by the appearance of extraterrestrials, which turns the story into a real page-turner. If you're a Stephenson fan who hasn't read this yet, what are you waiting for? If you're merely Stephenson-curious or just a fan of good science-fiction writing, Anathem is a truly compelling read.

Richard Dooling is probably best known for his novels White Man's Grave, Brain Storm, and Bet Your Life as well as his screenwriting endeavors. In Rapture for the Geeks, he steps away from fiction to take a look at the development of artificial intelligence and ponder how much longer we have before AI overtakes human IQ. Are we drawing ever-closer to the Singularity, and, if so, what happens next?

Dooling eschews easy comparisons of computer evolution to human evolution, calling them apples-to-oranges comparisons, and instead offers a humorous take on what it's like to be living in the B.S. (Before Singularity) age. Is our infatuation with technology ultimately a bad thing? Dooling thinks it might be, and does a good job of explaining why in Rapture.

"Heroes Die" sounds intriguing, but that's not just a "pulp" cover, but full-on homoerotica! I mean, as a martial arts enthusiast, I could say something about impracticalities of fighting with a dagger in each hand, but it's obvious that the artists just couldn't resist putting as many phallic items as possible in the picture. Not Fathers' Day gift material! unless maybe it's downloaded on a Kindle? I'm going to start reading Margaret Atwood's "Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth," with the hope it might be an good read for dad. The timelessness of Kidder's book is partly because he's not a techie, not an insider, but first and foremost a great writer and literary researcher. That would be the case for Atwood as well.BTW Borders sale is specifically for the Sony PRS-505.

(minor spoiler)But it's the first novel i've read that deals with multiverse concepts in a fairly intellectual way while maintaining a story you can actually give a crap about. It also does well at developing a sense of a fictional world without a metric asston of exposition distracting from the plot.

That Maoist poster idea is disgusting. Millions of people suffered human rights abuses during the Cultural Revolution. Many of China's, and later, Tibet's cultural artifacts were destroyed during that period. Minority cultures were suppressed. This is rather like putting your face on a 19th Century American poster advertising for Indian fighters.

Soul of a New Machine is a compelling book. We read it in one of my Computer Architecture classes in college. What we focused on was the management styles involved. There wasn't just tension between the hardware and software teams... there was plenty of tension between upper management and the teams themselves. The overall manager of the project did a great job of managing his team while shielding them from the wrangling going on above him. Every place I've worked has had that sort of tension, and Soul of a New Machine gave me some perspective on that struggle.

(minor spoiler)But it's the first novel i've read that deals with multiverse concepts in a fairly intellectual way while maintaining a story you can actually give a crap about. It also does well at developing a sense of a fictional world without a metric asston of exposition distracting from the plot.

I plowed through it a few months ago... I started in the afternoon, took a 4-hour nap at 4am and then got up and finished it promptly.

I'd have to agree with you, the story was extremely compelling, and the way Stephenson dealt with complex theories by means of appendices was brilliant.

This book got my mind churning so much that I was reading some pure philosophy essays in another tome by the end of the night (something I usually find too dry).

The next day I read The Diamond Age and almost enjoyed it more... If you haven't read Stephenson before I strongly recommend it as well.

Originally posted by wallinbl:I know you guys seem to have a Kindle fetish, but Borders just sent out a coupon making the Sony Reader $199.

It always feels like a Sony anti-fetish.

As a big "BUT" to that comment, I think the writers most likely acknowledge that the older generation is more attracted to Kindle than competing e-readers. I’m not sure what it is. Could it be that the design of the Kindle is vaguely similar to medical devices — which we seem to get to know more and more as we age — and is therefore more familiar than more stylish e-readers?

Just speculating here..

As to the rest of the article, dammit, there's so much to consider for my own library now..

The best part about "Rapture for the Geeks" is that if you're lucky, your mom will read some of it. I have no idea what my mom would think of that book. She might just throw it away. I ordered it on Amazon two days ago and can't wait for it...

Originally posted by kranchammer:That Maoist poster idea is disgusting.

I thought so too. What a weird thing to have in this list.

It's artistic. Seriously, one of the biggest Chinese artists these days is a guy that paints all these Mao-era style propaganda posters. It most definitely is not a statement of support for the regime or what it stands for. Getting your own face on one is kind of cool in a college dorm kind of way but I have a hard time seeing an Arsian's father being excited about getting his face on one.

That Maoist poster idea is disgusting. Millions of people suffered human rights abuses during the Cultural Revolution. Many of China's, and later, Tibet's cultural artifacts were destroyed during that period. Minority cultures were suppressed. This is rather like putting your face on a 19th Century American poster advertising for Indian fighters.

To be fair, that picture was made after the Cultural Revolution and its just celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the French Revolution.

The pictures they have for sale are the tame, Work hard posters. Its not like they are trying to post your face one of the "denouce Falun Gong" posters.

I guess you could get this for the father who enjoys Stephen Colbert and would not mind having a egoistical oil painting of himself.